The Duchess of York's former aide, Jane Andrews, who murdered her boyfriend when he refused to marry her, has had her sentence reduced.

The High Court ruled Andrews must now serve at least 12 years of her life sentence for the murder of Thomas Cressman.

Andrews, who came from Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, was originally sentenced to a minimum of 15 years.

The murder took place in September 2000 at the home they shared in London.

Andrews had beaten her lover with a cricket bat and then stabbed him with a kitchen knife at their home in Fulham, an Old Bailey jury heard. They found her guilty of murder in May 2001.

'Emotionally shattered'

At a High Court hearing on Tuesday, Mr Justice McKinnon described the attack as "ruthless", but said Andrews had been left "emotionally shattered" by the 39-year-old's rejection of her following a two week holiday on his boat in Italy.

The judge said Andrews had expected Mr Cressman to propose, but instead he told her their relationship was at an end.

Mr Justice McKinnon said: "It was evident that the attack she made on him was made as the result of bitter resentment and anger when she saw her ambition to marry him finally frustrated."

He added what happened had given Andrews, who was 34 at the time of her trial, an "unusually heavy burden to bear".